The lens feels very solid and well made. The recent Sigmas (especially their "EX" designated ones) have upped the ante quite a bit, and have improved their optical performance...Read complete review

The lens feels very solid and well made. The recent Sigmas (especially their "EX" designated ones) have upped the ante quite a bit, and have improved their optical performance by a large measure. And this lens falls in line with that trend.

At f/2.8, the central sharpness is great but the corners/edges are not that outstanding. However, when stopped down by 1 stop to f/4, the whole field just dramatically improves and becomes near perfect. Stopping down further just improves it a tad but f/4 itself if exceptional.

I bought the lens to shoot hand-held HD video with the A55. There was a Sigma advisory that their lenses MAY be incompatible with the A33/55 but mine has had absolutely no incompatibility issues whatsoever. Performance has been exemplary.

Overall a great product and I would purchase again.

VS

Most Liked Negative Review

So Far, Not Good

So far, I'm disappointed in the Sigma 17-50mm Lens that I received on the 4th of March. I took it out of the box, and at first glance seemed excited to snap...Read complete review

So far, I'm disappointed in the Sigma 17-50mm Lens that I received on the 4th of March. I took it out of the box, and at first glance seemed excited to snap some pictures. The lens has good weight and balance, and seemed of good quality.After inspecting the lens, I attached to my Sony a65, and powered it up. The lens has an Optical sensor, which from what I understand does not work with my camera...bummer. The lens also has a lock switch, which is great and its own auto focus switch. I turned off the OS, unlocked the lens and flipped on the auto focus switch. I proceeded to test out the new lens on a few objects in my living room. Then nothing... after framing in on a statue set up on a table, the lens would not focus. With a half press of the shutter, the motor was not attempting to focus at all. At first I thought that maybe there wasn't enough contrast for the auto focus, but being sunny, and with plenty of light in the room, that was not the issue. So I remove the lens and replaced it with my Sony lens, and reframed the same shot with the same camera settings. (Program) Got a focus and shot immediately. So I replaced the Sigma lens and tried again. Nothing, just a half second "zip" noise with each half press of the shutter. I literally tried every setting on the camera, with no result. I flicked off the auto focus button and framed and shot in manual focus, which worked out fine. I'm really disappointed at this point because I was planning on using this lens as my "walk-around" lens. I have another Sigma lens (10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC) which so far works great.I called B&H customer service and was told they would immediately send me an RMA# and exchange the lens right away. I had an RMA# and UPS label within seconds after hanging up. The CSA was extremely helpful and efficient. So I'm hoping the lens was defective and my replacement arrives soon. I will come back and edit this review and let everyone know how the next lens is.

*Edit to my previous review*Received a replacement lens from B&H, and tried it on my a65, and again the Lens does not focus properly. This time I did a search on the internet to see if anyone else was having an issue with this lens. I found out that on Sigma's website, there was a post that described the issue that I was having and that this lens will not work on the a65/a75 without a firmware upgrade. So I called Sigma and spoke to a CSA, and he repeatedly told me that the lens (according to the serial #) SHOULD work with my camera. He mentioned that the post on their website was old and that anything shipped to the supplier after Nov of 2012 would work. I told him that it did not work, and that there was a sticker on the box that read "compatible with the a35", and his response was that it SHOULD work. He told me that the only thing he could do was have me ship the lens to Sigma to check the firmware. Thank goodness I purchased from B&H, a call to them and I had a RMA and shipping label within minutes. I returned the lens and instead, purchased the Tamron lens with the same focal length, which I received yesterday, and yes, it worked perfectly. I know Sigma are good lenses, maybe it's just my camera? I still would recommend this lens, ONLY if you buy it through B&H. They WILL return or replace it if you have an issue, and they back what they sell!! Only place to buy your camera supplies!!

So far, I'm disappointed in the Sigma 17-50mm Lens that I received on the 4th of March. I took it out of the box, and at first glance seemed excited to snap some pictures. The lens has good weight and balance, and seemed of good quality.After inspecting the lens, I attached to my Sony a65, and powered it up. The lens has an Optical sensor, which from what I understand does not work with my camera...bummer. The lens also has a lock switch, which is great and its own auto focus switch. I turned off the OS, unlocked the lens and flipped on the auto focus switch. I proceeded to test out the new lens on a few objects in my living room. Then nothing... after framing in on a statue set up on a table, the lens would not focus. With a half press of the shutter, the motor was not attempting to focus at all. At first I thought that maybe there wasn't enough contrast for the auto focus, but being sunny, and with plenty of light in the room, that was not the issue. So I remove the lens and replaced it with my Sony lens, and reframed the same shot with the same camera settings. (Program) Got a focus and shot immediately. So I replaced the Sigma lens and tried again. Nothing, just a half second "zip" noise with each half press of the shutter. I literally tried every setting on the camera, with no result. I flicked off the auto focus button and framed and shot in manual focus, which worked out fine. I'm really disappointed at this point because I was planning on using this lens as my "walk-around" lens. I have another Sigma lens (10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC) which so far works great.I called B&H customer service and was told they would immediately send me an RMA# and exchange the lens right away. I had an RMA# and UPS label within seconds after hanging up. The CSA was extremely helpful and efficient. So I'm hoping the lens was defective and my replacement arrives soon. I will come back and edit this review and let everyone know how the next lens is.

I would like to note that I did recieve an OS model with both the A33/A55 and A65/A77 compatability stickers on the box. This is in March 2013.

This lens is optically excellent, has fast and accurate AF, and balances exceptionally well on the A65. Note that if you can get the OS version it allows you to use a NEX as a backup body (via the LA-EA2 adapter) with little fuss.

I would highly recommend it, with the caveat that it does take 77mm filters (which can be an advantage or disadvantage).

I use this lens for weddings. I have a 50 prime and 70-200 G, prior to this lens I rarely went wide angle. When I absolutely needed to, I found myself reaching for an old kit lens. I compared Sony's to this one, and I find them similar in image quality. It does tend to zoom creep when I'm running around with it dangling off my neck, but I re-frame every shot anyway. The bokeh isn't the most amazing thing, but it's still quality.

I am using this lens on my Nex-7 with the Auto focus mount am happy with the quality of the pictures over all, as expected from a high quilty lens only one issue is the OS, this lens stabilization is hardly 2 stops not as mentioned 4 stops, when using the lens on 2.8 its a bit soft but at 4 up to 7 very sharp lens.

Using this lens on a Sony NEX-5N body with translucent mirror adaptor. Works great. Focuses fast and has built in stabilizer which the NEX body does not have in camera, so it is the perfect combination.

Pictures are more than reasonably sharp edge to edge even at F2.8 Pictures are blown up to 24 by 16 inches for display with no problem.

The lens feels very solid and well made. The recent Sigmas (especially their "EX" designated ones) have upped the ante quite a bit, and have improved their optical performance by a large measure. And this lens falls in line with that trend.

At f/2.8, the central sharpness is great but the corners/edges are not that outstanding. However, when stopped down by 1 stop to f/4, the whole field just dramatically improves and becomes near perfect. Stopping down further just improves it a tad but f/4 itself if exceptional.

I bought the lens to shoot hand-held HD video with the A55. There was a Sigma advisory that their lenses MAY be incompatible with the A33/55 but mine has had absolutely no incompatibility issues whatsoever. Performance has been exemplary.